Sinkhole risk in Santa Rosa County, FL: Mostly deep or small

Mostly deep or small

Some soluble rock, mostly deeply buried or in a small share of the county.

On soluble rock: 15%
At or near the surface: 0%
Buried under cover: 15%

What to do about a house in Santa Rosa County

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

Standard Florida homeowners policies cover only catastrophic ground cover collapse; full sinkhole coverage is a separately priced option insurers must offer.

That works out to roughly 148 of Santa Rosa County's 1,012 square miles on soluble rock. With about 207,653 residents (205 per square mile), homes are spread across towns and farmland, and a mapped unit may or may not reach the developed parts. The figures come from 323 map points about 1.8 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Santa Rosa County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Holmes County, FL, about 73 miles east. None of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so Santa Rosa County stands out from its surroundings.

Escambia County, FL 21 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Okaloosa County, FL 26 mi east · 0% at surface
Escambia County, AL 32 mi north · 0% at surface
Baldwin County, AL 43 mi west · 0% at surface
Walton County, FL 51 mi east · 11% at surface
Covington County, AL 52 mi northeast · 4% at surface

What Santa Rosa County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Alum Bluff Group (limestone), Eocene in age, covering about 15% of the county.

The county also lies over the Gulf Coast salt domes, a deep salt or gypsum basin. Deep beds rarely cause surface collapse on their own, but wells and mining into them have.

Against the rest of Florida

Santa Rosa County ranks 67 of 67 in Florida for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.